Holiday Inn Rooftop Bar Opposed by Hundreds of Neighbors

LOWER EAST SIDE — Hundreds of locals are protesting the addition of a rooftop bar to a Holiday Inn on Delancey Street, fearing the open-air venue would plague neighbors with late-night noise.

Neighbors to the hotel at 148 Delancey St. have launched a petition opposing the plan to stick a 100-seat rooftop bar — with daily operating hours running until 4 a.m. — atop the building, which sits in a largely residential corridor between Suffolk and Clinton streets.

“[The bar] would be a quality of life nightmare for our residents,” said Pamela Ito, president of the Suffolk Street Block Association, pointing to the proximity of the hotel to neighboring residences.

The Holiday Inn sits adjacent to two walk-up residential buildings — one on Suffolk Street and one on Clinton Street — which are filled with families with children and elderly, Ito said.

Neighboring buildings— even those not physically touching the walls of the inn — are attached by a shared courtyard, according to the petition, leaving locals exposed to noise drifting from the rooftop.

The new bar, headed by Joe Donagher and Eamon Donnelly of Tribeca tavern Barleycorn, would feature televisions and background music as opposed to live music or DJs, according to a liquor license application on file with the local community board.

But even if the music is kept down, neighbors fear the hangout would draw rowdy crowds and keep neighbors up at night.

The Holiday Inn already has a liquor license, and is applying to extend its existing license to the rooftop, according to the application, which will be reviewed by the community board’s SLA subcommittee in July.

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